Review: HD Brows Foundation Powder

Good sunny Sunday to you all!

I can't believe how nice the weather still is, fingers crossed it will last a bit longer!

We're back with a joint review for you today. We were very kindly sent HD Brows new Foundation Powder to trial a few weeks ago and we can't wait to tell you all about it. It's a pressed mineral powder compact that claims to create a flawless finish.

As you probably know by now, luckily we are the same colour in foundation so took a gamble looking at the colours online and chose Number 2. There are 6 shades in total, numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9, which as you can tell is a little confusing!
I would assume they plan to fill out the numbers by producing colours in between i.e. 4, 6, and 8 but who knows. It's quite easy to see online the colour changes between the shades and so we were quite confident when choosing our foundation shade.

(The website can be found here)

They say:
A foundation and a concealer in one can be used for light, natural or full coverage, the smooth formula blends seamlessly, absorbing excess oils to create a flawless finish.

So what did we think?!

I am a completely sucker for simple packaging, and this ticks all the boxes for me.
Plain black cardboard box for the outer packaging with clear logo and info stamped on the back, plus a super simple black plastic compact containing the products.

I love that when the compact comes out of the box, you have to not only peel a plastic layer off to get to the actual compact covering, but there is also a sheet of tissue paper to protect the HD Brows logo, which makes it feel that much more luxurious and special.
I felt like I was unwrapping a watch or very expensive electrical gadget that i should keep the plastic on for as long as possible!

I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we absolutely loved the design. I've never seen anything else like it and its so funky and easy to use.
The compact opens up to show a square shaped mirror in the lid and a clear plastic tray housing the make up sponge. You need to lift out the sponge and flip the plastic bit to the side to reach the powder itself, which is snazzy, compact and so simple.

The powder itself is very fine and a little goes a long way. The sponge is great for layering on the powder on areas that need more coverage and for touch ups throughout the day, i.e. the dreaded oil slick starting to appear on your T-zone from lunch time onwards.

I also use my Real Techniques powder brush to apply a thinner layer in the morning for setting purposes and it's worked great at creating a flawless base and lasted me until the afternoon before I need to apply any more.

My only bug bear about it at all is the name.....HD Brows Foundation? I think it's great they've branched out into other products from their super amazing brow kit that everyone raves about and can't get enough of (I haven't been lucky enough to try it myself yet!), but i can't help but think HD Foundation might have been better to stick with the whole HD theme. But that is of course my 2 cents on something that I have no idea about and maybe they couldn't rename it!

You can find the Foundation Powder on the link above, and it retails for £21.95.
Will you be giving the HD Brows Pressed Mineral Powder a go?

L xxx

As L said the packaging is amazing. The little plastic bit that hold the sponge is great. I find where the powder is so fine milled the lightest touch with a brush will pick the product up. If I'm too heavy handed the powder doesn't go anywhere as the plastic casing holds it. I like that there is something to keep the sponge off the powder too. It's a great handbag powder.

Due to the warm weather I'm loving either layering this over tinted moisturiser or even just on it's own. Where it's a powder foundation it can be used to set make up and give extra coverage. It works really well over tinted moisturiser and has been lasting impressively in this heat wave we've been enjoying.

For anyone who's a fan of powdered foundation this is definitely one to put on your list. It's got great lasting power, provides light coverage and helps to control oil.

The colours online do make it hard to pick but the swatches do look pretty accurate. I think it's always hard to pick colours online but our guess paid off well and the colour of shade 2 is great and would work on pink or yellow skin tones.

I will be trying more products from HD Brows and do want to try the ever popular brows powder as if it's similar texture to the face powder I can see it being great.

Hope you're all enjoying some time in the sun!

Love M

xxx

You can pick up the HD brows line from HDbrows.com

Tea Time!

Both me and M have been so busy the last few weeks and lots of things have happened, so I decided to do a catch up post instead of a product review today. So get yourself a brew and settle down.....

I am absolutely loving my new job and it's everything I've been hoping for....but helllllllllllllllllllll is it hard work!

There's so much to learn my brain feels like its about to explode every evening I come home, I've even got into bed at 7pm and completely crashed out til the next day.

I'm still training but now that I've got the basics I'm getting to do a lot more fun things (if you can call analysing drugs a fun thing?!) so fingers crossed my brain won't be so bombarded soon.

They've even offered for me to a PhD next year...eeeeek!

The biggest event this week was of course M's birthday! We had a lush day at the spa on Thursday, we started off in the gym knowing that we had a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge afternoon tea to follow:



Look at those sandwiches, warm scones and welsh cakes, pastries and even jelly and strawberries!

There must have been 1000s of calories on this tray so I was pretty glad I'd been to the gym before it.

 

Afterwards we got glammed up and went for a few cocktails before M met her family for food.

I wore out an animal print jump suit with nude court shoes, and M had on a dress she got for her birthday which was a gorgeous burgundy lace dress from Lydia Rose Brights collection.

 

We have the same plan of attack whenever we go for cocktails, first drink is a Cosmo followed by a Long Island Iced Tea. After that we tend to grab whatever else is on the deal (ha!) but we thought we'd try a different one called a Kentucky Jewel which we would 100% recommend ;)

We also went shopping last weekend and I picked up a few naughty pieces!
First up was an unplanned dress purchase....a beautiful red dress from Oasis in the sale for £35. I couldn't resist it as it was so beautiful on, a classic shape and colour......and in the sale!

The blazer was a cheeky Zara purchase. I did need a blazer for the weddings I have coming up, and although this beauty was £50 I know it will be worn a lot and will go with every dress that I have to wear to weddings and other summer events. Hopefully this will be worth the cash!

I've been working hard at the gym recently so I decided to pick myself up some new trainers. I know everyone loves the super bright coral Nikes and I would love to get some for myself but at £90 with crazy delivery I will have to wait for now!
I picked these up from the Nike Factory store for a bargainous £38 and cannot wait to rock up to the gym today with them on.

What have you been up to recently? What have you been spending on and looking forward to?

Me and M have a night out planned for next week.....I'm thinking of wearing the red dress! Do you like it?

Hope you're all having a gorgeous weekend in the sun!

L xxx

MAC Sunny Seoul Lipstick

As I've mentioned previously I have been saving my MAC products for some years now (about 10....) as I knew that they had a Back to MAC scheme but I wasn't quite sure how it worked, how many you needed etc.

Needless to say after a few years of a MAC obsession I had culminated enough for an amazing 4 lipsticks, and this is number 2.

I have been keeping my fingers crossed for some good weather but as this isn't happening I decided to get a pink lipstick and make my mood a bit sunnier on the days that I wear it!

This is Sunny Seoul:

When you take products Back to MAC you normally get given the lipsticks out of the cardboard box packaging.

I don't really understand why as it's not like you can take it back anyway but it is a little quirk that I've noticed, if anyone has a clue let me know!

So here's the lipstick:

It's a very pretty pink that's great for day wear as it allows a wash of colour without being so overpowering that it detracts from everything else.
This is typical of the CremeSheen family of lipsticks of which I also own Creme Cup, Coral Bliss and Cross Wires (a newbie!). They're so wearable and are an easy choice when you're in a rush or can't decide!

This is one of the most girly lipsticks I own. Most of the time I go for brights like reds and vibrant pinks or corals, so this was a welcome change to my lipstick wardrobe and one I can't wait to use more of.

Here's the lipstick on:





As you can see it's really pretty and will suit so many skin tones, particularly pale skin. It's a baby pink but not overly girly and 'sugary sweet'.

Who knows, maybe it will win me over and I'll become a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars-esque baby pink wearing girly girl!

What do you think of Sunny Seoul? Are you a baby pink girl or a vibrant bright lover?

L xxx

OPI - Oz The Great and Powerful

As well as my naughty purchase the other week when I ordered the OPI Bond Girl Liquid Sands, I also picked up the OPI Oz The Great and Powerful set as well, oops!

I couldn't resist and had heard such great things about the liquid sand in this collection and nudes, particularly from OPI are great for any collection.

I also love the names, as usual!

I Theodora You is a sheer pink
Glints of Glinda is a classic beige
Don't Burst my Bubble is a sheer white
What Wizardry is This is the liquid sand, a beautiful taupe with a matte shimmer.


First up is What Wizardry is This.

This is the liquid sand from the collection and as I said before in the Bond Girl post, I was so unsure of the texture and effect of the liquid sands.
However with the Bond Girl collection and this one I have been completely won over.

This is beautiful in the light, in the dark and in just about any situation possible. The classic taupe colour means it will suit most skin tones and most outfits, but the texture and shimmer bring it bang up to date and wearable to work, lunch dates, pub trips and Saturday nights out.

Look at it glimmer!

I Theodora You is the first nude I tried, and it's the sheer pink.

I do love nude pinks and this one is a really nice colour, but I think these are a bit too sheer for me.
They'd be perfect for work as they're a 'your nails but better' kind of shade and aren't too opaque to stand out.
However these ones are very sheer, and the photo below shows my nails after 2 coats so I was disappointed with this as theyre still very streaky and I'm not sure further coats would be able to sort this out completely.




Next up is Glints of Glinda:



The name to me suggests that it should be a glitter which was a little disappointing!
This is actually a classic beige, but again its a sheer polish. This is not as sheer as I Theodora You, and the colour is a lot more consistent.

Again its a 'your nails but better' shade that wouldn't show up too much if you have to be conservative at work.
I can imagine this would be great in winter too as this kind of beige colour will look great with the winter berry colours!



Lastly we have Don't Burst my Bubble which is a sheer white.

On first impression this one is very like Essie's Ballet Slippers. I forgot to take a photo after painting my nails with it so below the photos show it with some clear glitter on the ends (oops!)

This was after 2 coats and I will definitely use this as its so similar to Ballet Slippers and is probably the one that I will use most out of the nudes.



I think I will use Don't Burst my Bubble and What Wizardry is This the most as the liquid sand is so unique and the other is so wearable. I Theodora You and Glints of Glinda were a little disappointing as they were so sheer and out of all the polishes available I think the mini collection could have been a lot more exciting, 3 nudes in one limited edition collection is far too many.

What do you think of the collection? Do you like this many nudes? What do you think of the Liquid Sands?

L xxx